Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar lamented that at the rate President Bola Tinubu was going, he might soon imprison all Nigerians for his own security.
Atiku also lampooned the Tinubu administration over the prosecution of the publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore.
He said Sowore’s prosecution, as well as the arrest and detention of Professor Usman Yusuf, a former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), amounted to “systematic harassment and intimidation”.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested Yusuf on Wednesday over alleged N4 billion fraud, among others accusations.
Reacting to those developments via his official X handle, Atiku described Sowore’s prosecution as baseless, adding that Tinubu’s government may soon imprison everyone who criticises his administration.
The presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 general election claimed that the alleged systematic harassment of critics and opposition figures and the purported dismantling of opposition parties were ploys to establish a one-party system.
Atiku stated, “When I made the clarion call that Tinubu and the APC were devoting their energies to the systematic harassment, intimidation, and dismantling of the opposition, all in service of their grand design for a one-party autocracy, I became the target of vicious attacks.
“The arrest and baseless prosecution of @YeleSowore is the latest chapter in this unrelenting campaign.
“Now, they have deemed it fit to add Professor Usman Yusuf— an outspoken critic of this administration — into their grim roster. At the pace they are going, it seems they may soon find themselves contending with the incarceration of everyone of us.”
Atiku’s comments were in line with his earlier claim that APC was destroying opposition parties to achieve a one-party system.
Speaking as a panellist at a national conference held in Abuja recently, Atiku had alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) bribed opposition parties with N50 million to weaken their leadership ahead of the 2027 election.
The claim sparked reactions from opposition parties, as Labour Party (LP) and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) asked the former vice president to provide concrete evidence to support his allegation.
